The Bonds Between Us

Chapter 5

With her son in her arms, Hyerin walked into the room.

“Good morning, Han-ah.” The father greeted his son while combing his hair.

“Good morning, Appa.”

“Jungkook, you need to see this,” She said, putting Daehan on the couch. Jungkook turned to look and found a worried Hyerin.

“What is it?” He asked, approaching them.

“This,” Hyerin said, lifting Daehan’s sleeve up, revealing a small dark purple bruise on his right arm.

Jungkook reached his son’s arm and examined it thoroughly.

“It’s an effect of a pinch or hard hit…Han, does it hurt?” He asked, caressing it gently and the boy whined.

“A little.”

“Do you remember when you started to feel hurt here?”

“Yesterday.”

“When?”

“When I played in the playground.”

“What happened?”

“Binbin wanted to play with me but I don’t want to play with her because she always says something not good. She’s angry that I don’t play with her, so she pinched me.” Daehan explained slowly. Jungkook glanced at Hyerin as she gave him a worried look.

“Did you tell the teacher?” Hyerin asked.

“No, it just hurts a little. Appa, Omma, don’t blame BinBin, ok? She just wants to play with me.” The little boy shook his parent’s hand, afraid that they could blame her.

“Why don't you want us to blame her?” Jungkook asked, picking Daehan to put on his lap.

“I’m afraid she hates me.” He answered, playing with his fingers.

“What if she hurts you again?”

“I…she won’t. I promise.” Daehan showed his little finger and Jungkook chuckled.

“She’s the one who hurt you, why do you make a promise instead?”

“I’ll tell her not to do it again.”

“Good boy.” Jungkook said, ruffling his soft hair. Hyerin shook her head, getting up to take her bag.

“Han-ah, go to take your backpack.” Hyerin said and the boy ran off.

“What do you think?” She asked, looking up at her husband.

“It’s just a child's play. Let him solve it that way. It’s not that serious though,” he said, picking up his jacket.

“I’m worried.” Her face still showed doubt.

“Talk to his teacher then. Try not to be serious, it's not her fault,” he said before leaning down to peck her lips, but she was fast to move her head back before he could reach her lips. Yet, he was stubborn enough not to lose it. He grabbed her waist fast, pulling her in for another peck, and he succeeded.

Hyerin glared at him as he released her and he gave her a satisfied smile.

**********

In a dark room, sat a man with pale skin. He looked so calm and relaxed on a chair, although it was a questioning room. The door finally opened, revealing Jungkook, who walked in with a file in his hand.

He sat down facing the man with his steady face.

“Min Yoongi…30…you’re quite young in this industry,” Jungkook said, staring into the man’s eyes.

“At your age, you’re too young to be a chief.”

“You’re suspicious of selling drugs, committing murder and kidnap cases…”

“Arrest me if you have evidence.”

“I will.”

“Shh, the police are too stupid to find those things. Don’t you think it’s too obvious? It’s your luck that I didn’t report back to you for keeping me here for two days without any evidence.” He leaned in and said in his low tone. Jungkook smirked, pushing his file aside, his eyes pierced into the man’s eyes.

“This is such a fun game between us. I find this is just the beginning and I hope to see you often here.”

“Am I welcomed here that often?”

“Open arms.”

“But I hate those handcuffs.”

“But they love you.” Their conversation went on and on with some nonsense stuff making the ones who look out of the room look at each other with questions.

And after the questioning, Min Yoongi was released and walked out of the police station with a smirk as his bodyguards came to escort him to his car.

Meanwhile, Jungkook got a call from an unknown man asking to meet him privately, which he refused to do that day, but later, although he knew there would be trouble, he would like to face it.

“Sir, everyone is ready for the meeting you have requested.” Woohyuk went in and informed his boss.

“Thanks,” Jungkook said, closing his laptop and taking his notebook.

*******

In the neat pencil skirt and her white shirt, Hyerin walked down the hallway into the meeting room.

Everyone was there chatting while waiting for the meeting to start.

She bowed to some elders before sitting down beside one of her co-workers.

“Yah, do you even notice that everyone is talking about your husband?” Asked the girl next to Hyerin.

“Eo.” Calmly, she nodded.

“And you didn’t even tell me that he’s actually our chairman’s son.” She continued, making Hyerin shrug.

“Is it really necessary, Jiwoon-ah?”

“I just wonder how come we didn’t know about it until now? You were married before you worked here and we never knew about your family at all. We didn’t know that you’re the chairman’s daughter-in-law. And then you have Daehan. We still didn’t know who the father is. We all even thought that your husband could be an old man, so that you don’t want us to know him because you feel embarrassed. But look, he’s the chairman’s son, he’s handsome, he’s hot, plus he’s at a higher rank in police career. Heol, that’s just too much for us to know now in five years.” She rambled lowly and Hyerin just kept listening with a soft sigh.

“And more than that…our chairman has never mentioned his second son at all. Why?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at Hyerin.

“It’s not important to talk about him when he’s not on this field.”

“Heol~”

“Shh.” Hyerin quickly made her friend quiet down as the CEO came in with the chairman and they started the meeting.

The work in the company was a challenge for Hyerin which she had overcome so much already , without telling anyone, even Jungkook, her husband. She experienced the hardships, the problems and the balance between work and family life to climb the ladder to where she was right now. There, she learned how to live her life by herself even though she came from a wealthy family.

“Jung Hyerin, meet me at 4.” One of her supervisors said to her before exiting the room. Hyerin sighed as Jiwoon patted her shoulder. He was known as a fierce director and he was always troublesome to her. Between them, there was a dark past.

He fell for her at first sight when she started to work. She tried to tell him not to because she’s married and that was how love turned to hate. He put her under pressure at work, yet she managed to deal with it without any complaints because she didn’t want anyone in the company to criticize the way she got into her position in her father-in-law’s place.

But sometimes, she felt tired and perhaps one day she would quit.

********

The day slowly ended. Because of work, Jungkook left his workplace late as he got a text from Hyerin that she also worked late that day. So Jungkook picked his son from his parent’s house before going to take Hyerin from her company.

“Appa, I’m hungry. I want to eat cake. can I?” Daehan asked with a pout, his arms hugged his buddy tight.

“Why are you hungry? You didn’t eat much?” Jungkook asked, turning to look at his son.

“I ate a lot but I’m hungry again. And I know Omma is hungry too.” He cutely rambled, looking up at his father.

“It’s because you want your Omma to eat too?”

“Ne, Omma is always hungry when she works late. Sometimes, we ate in her office together before going home.” His words made Jungkook worried suddenly. It told Jungkook that Hyerin always worked too hard.

“Arraseo, we’ll buy cake and we will eat together. Appa is also hungry too.”

“Yay!!! Thanks, Appa.” The boy danced happily as Jungkook smiled at his son’s cuteness.

After buying the cake, Jungkook went to his father’s company. On the way, Jungkook noticed how quiet the place was because everyone had already left. Meanwhile, Daehan was skipping innocently beside him with his baby dinosaur in his arms.

“Han-ah, how often Omma works late like this?” He asked, taking the boy’s hand.

“Hm…not every day. Just sometimes, on Monday. Sometimes, Thursday…”

“Then how many times did you stay late with Omma?”

“I don’t remember, many times. Oh, annyeonghaseyo, Ajjussi.” Daehan quickly bowed politely as he saw a guard walking toward them. He was around forty. In his hand was a torch.

“Oh, Annyeong, Daehan-ah.” He smiled, patting Daehan’s head before turning to look at Jungkook.

“You must be Daehan’s Appa.” He said, smiling. And Jungkook bowed to him.

“I am.”

“How good looking. Daehan takes after you a lot.”

“Thank you.”

“But no matter how busy you are, don’t let Hyerin-ssi work this late. She often does it and it may be dangerous sometimes. There’re many harmful things around nowadays.” He reminded Jungkook and he nodded.

“I’ll try my best. Thanks for taking care of them.”

“Then…I’ll go now. Daehan-ah, Annyeong.” He waved at the boy.

“Wait, Ajjussi.” Daehan quickly took his hand before running to his father and taking one of the bags from his hand.

“This is for you.” He said, handing the guard the bag. Jungkook smiled at that. He wondered why his son asked to buy an extra cake but he didn’t say anything because he knew Daehan always had a reason for what he did. And he waited to see what it was.

“Oh, how kind you are. Thanks so much. You don’t have to do that, Daehan-ah.” The guard said, ruffling the boy’s soft hair and he just giggled back.

“Please eat a lot, Ajjussi.” He bowed and skipped ahead as Jungkook bowed to the guard.

“You have a great family, young man. Keep them.” He mumbled as Jungkook followed his son with a smile. He will, with all his heart and love.

Meanwhile, Hyerin was busy with her files, pushing her glasses up now and then. Someone knocked on the door before it opened, revealing her prince.

“Omma!!!”

“Annyeong, Han-ah.” She said, standing up and walked toward him as Jungkook came in next.

“Hey.” He greeted her, putting the bags on the table.

“You brought a cake?” Hyerin exclaimed happily as she saw the bags.

“You’re hungry, Omma?” Daehan asked, smiling, and she nodded.

“Thank you.” Sitting upon the couch, she started to eat the cake with her son while Jungkook just looked at them with a smile like they were his happiness.

Being that close, he realized his love for them was growing big. And he also realized how hard Hyerin put herself for both her work and as a mother. He suddenly felt respectful to her. She was a wonderful girl after all. There, he told himself not to let her go no matter what. She asked nothing, so she deserved everything.

The family went home after having dinner at a restaurant because Hyerin was too tired to cook for them.

The light from the kitchen suddenly lightened up and Hyerin went to drink water after tucking Daehan to bed.

“Can you bring two glasses, Rin?” Jungkook said, walking in with a bottle of wine. She put her glass down and went to grab two glasses from the shelf.

Then they settled themselves on the balcony where they could see the city lights clearly.

Slowly, he poured the wine into her glass and gave it to her. She took it without saying anything, sipped it silently. After a while, they both finished a glass each.

Hyerin stood up, taking a deep breath and leaned on the railing, looking up to the sky. It seemed they were trying to find something to say, yet still had doubts.

“What are you thinking?”

“As a husband, I want to be able to see every small thing about you. Whenever you have a hard time, whenever you endure a problem…even whenever you want to cry because it’s too hard for you to hold it in…” Jungkook said, turning to look at her as she sighed.

“Yes, it’s hard. Sometimes, I want to cry out but I can’t…” She finally opened up. He remained silent, staring at her.

“I find it’s hard to talk to anyone I know, especially you. I don’t think I can tell you my problem…because I know you also have yours…” She said.

“That’s why I want to know you more and better.” He stood up and he was in front of her, finally.

“It’s the best way to get closer to you…”

Her head was raised to look at him as he stared down into her dark eyes. Slowly, his hands circled around her waist.

“Let me have you…” He mumbled, leaning closer, and he captured her beautiful lips with his.

Her eyelids went down slowly as she responded to his kiss.

It was the first time she could feel the sweetness of the kiss, it meant the real meaning behind every kiss from him.

*********